Marshfield builds big lead and hangs on for Big 8 crossover championship

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By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)

Marshfield’s girls basketball team tied for first in the Big 8 East last season but missed out on the conference championship game due to a tiebreaker with Springfield Catholic.

That gave the Blue Jays a sense of unfinished business – but they completed it on Monday night at Nevada.

Marshfield used a barrage of 3-pointers to build a 21-point lead in the second half and then held on late to earn a 61-56 win over the Tigers in the conference crossover game for the team’s 20th win of the season.

“One of our big goals we set for the season was to win a conference championship,” Marshfield coach Katie Pritchard said. “We fell short of it last year and we thought we should have had the opportunity, so we didn’t want to do that this year. We knew coming in that Nevada’s a really good team, they’re really well coached and this is a tough environment, but we really talked about embracing the environment and enjoying that championship atmosphere. I think we were able to do that and still play with confidence.”

The Blue Jays (20-4) made six 3-pointers in the first half and added three more in the third quarter to take a huge lead – it was 45-24 with just 10:20 left in the game after a triple by Lillie Findley.

But Nevada (19-4) came storming back.

The Tigers closed the third on a 10-0 run and got as close as four points in the final minutes before Marshfield pulled it out to win its 12th in a row.

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME

Blue Jays free throws were a big reason why. Marshfield made 9-of-12 attempts in the final quarter and 17 of 24 in the game.

And the Blue Jays answered every Tigers score down the stretch.

It was 54-48 after a pair of Nevada free throws with 1:09 left in the game; Marshfield’s Abby McBride answered with a pair of her own.

It was 56-51 with 50 seconds left after Nevada’s Lakyn Applegate scored from three-point range; Marshfield’s Lauren Luebbert answered with two more freebies.

It was 58-53 with 29 seconds on the clock following two free throws by Nevada’s Katie Johnson; Marshfield’s Quinn Aldridge answered with two more from the charity stripe.

Then, it was 60-56 with 15 seconds remaining after Nevada’s Applegate made another 3-pointer; McBride was fouled again and made one shot, but not before eating up nearly all the time left on the clock.

The Blue Jays have worked a lot on staying calm under pressure, Pritchard said.

“Knowing when those big moments happen and those runs happen, just stay true to who we are,” she said. “And I think tonight whenever they hit big shots, we got the ball back in, we took care of it and we did what we needed to do on the offensive end.”

Of course, for much of the night it appeared Marshfield was cruising to an easy win. The Blue Jays broke an early tie with a 16-5 run and led 32-17 at halftime thanks in part to three-point baskets from Lauren Luebbert, Aldridge, McBride (2) and Findley (2).

The lead grew to 18 points in the third after a 3-pointer by Jordan Jung, and then Findley added another less than two minutes later for the 21-point advantage.

“We just came out and we wanted to be the aggressors,” Pritchard said. “We wanted to come out and be confident in the shots we take on the road because sometimes you get in the habit of being on your heels to start on the road. We said we’re going to be the aggressor from the get go, share the basketball and everybody shot with confidence. Fortunately they were going in.”

Nevada, meanwhile, had three players score in double figures: Johnson, Maddy Majors and Applegate. But that trio was limited to just 10 points in the first half before erupting for 32 in the second.

Majors had a team-high 19 in the game and scored 13 of those after the half, including eight in the fourth quarter. And Applegate connected on three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter alone to make things interesting.

“They showed a lot of heart,” Nevada coach Blake Howarth said. “I love that about this group. This group continues to shock me, honestly. Right when you think they can get a little bit better – not a lot better – they find another gear and they showed a lot more heart. It’s not that I didn’t think they had it but they gave a little more tonight than they had to give in the last couple games. Always tough to lose but a great learning opportunity for us to not put ourselves in that position. We’ve got to do a better job of being prepared from the tip.”

Marshfield was led by 16 points from McBride, who scored 8 in the fourth quarter while shooting a perfect 6 for 6 at the line. Aldridge scored 13, Luebbert had 12 and Findley scored 11.

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